Montclair Prep Playoff Ban Upheld by Panel

The Southern Section Executive Committee on Monday upheld a one-year playoff ban levied against Montclair Prep and admonished the school to clean up its act with regard to athletics.

By a 10-0 vote, the panel of high school principals and administrators agreed to hold in place a previous ruling that prohibited all Montclair Prep teams from advancing into postseason play during the 1991-92 school year.

The ban stems from an agreement reached in April between the section and the school, in which Montclair Prep admitted to recruiting violations in its football program. The section later reduced a three-year playoff ban against the football team to one year and allowed the school to petition for reinstatement for its winter and spring sports after a key witness against the school recanted his testimony in November.

At Monday’s hearing at section headquarters in Cerritos, the panel considered four charges against the school that were uncovered during the section’s investigation of the school before April’s agreement.

A vote of committee members determined that Montclair Prep failed to clear itself on two of the charges, one vote ended in a 5-5 deadlock and a fourth charge was dismissed.

Soon after the final voice count was tallied, the panel’s leader told the school’s founder and principal, V.J. (Doc) Simpson, to “get his act together.”

“That’s a way of saying that there’s work to be done and that they need to clean things up,” said Tom Jacobson, president of the committee and principal of Corona del Mar High.

Simpson said he will consider filing an appeal at the state level. Montclair Prep, whose football and volleyball teams were barred from postseason play last fall, will be eligible for the playoffs in all sports in 1992-93.

In a hearing punctuated by acrimony and pointed accusations, the section hinged its case on former Mountie football player Alex DeHayward, who enrolled at the school in 1985. DeHayward was a transfer from El Camino Real High who claimed to be a junior in class standing when he enrolled at Montclair Prep.

DeHayward was allowed to play, though a review of his transcripts by Montclair Prep officials later revealed that he had exhausted his eight semesters of eligibility.

Simpson stated at the hearing that he suspended DeHayward immediately after learning of his academic ineligibility, but admitted that he took no further action. Committee members were critical of Simpson’s failure to report the use of an ineligible player to the section level, which would almost certainly have resulted in forfeitures, they said.

Others were critical of the school’s decision to allow DeHayward to play before the school received his transcripts, which arrived at Montclair Prep after the school year and season had begun.

“To punish someone based on seven years ago is a crime,” Simpson said afterward.

The committee also unanimously agreed that the school did not adequately refute the charge that it used an on-campus dormitory to influence athletes to enroll at the school. DeHayward also was involved in that portion of the hearing.

The section introduced evidence that included Simpson’s admission that he knew of section rules that made athletes immediately eligible upon transferring to a licensed boarding school, such as Montclair Prep.

Tom Robb, a former Montclair Prep assistant football coach who was in charge of supervising the dormitory in 1985-86, stated in a story published Nov. 7, 1990, in The Times that the arrangement was a ploy to get DeHayward and other players to transfer to the school.

Simpson admitted in the hearing that “there were problems with supervision” at the dormitory. One committee member characterized the dormitory arrangement as “a sham,” and others seemed to doubt the amount of time, if any, that athletes spent there.

The section played excerpts from a recording of a Nov. 28, 1990, interview with Simpson, which the committee viewed as an admission of guilt by Simpson.

The committee was unable to reach a decision on the grade-change allegations and the vote ended in a 5-5 tie.